With Her Capture (21 page)

“There is a male in Banff who has been asking
about a female.” She had a relaxing tone. It seemed as she spoke
that she wasn’t concealing her feelings, but simply didn’t have
any—other than being at peace and content. “The male is a Cariboo
lunewulf
,” she added, glancing at Ayden. “He’s been very
specific with his questions. We were approached last night when it
appeared that he was asking about you.”

“What is he asking?” Ayden snarled.

Magda shrugged her shoulder to force his hand
to relax when he started gripping her hard enough it hurt.

“He is asking for this female’s whereabouts
on behalf of her litter, who wishes her found.” The female returned
her attention to Magda. “When we sniffed out that you were the
female he wanted, we had him brought here.“

“Where is he?” Ayden roared.

He let go of Magda. She then found herself
shoved behind him and almost stumbled over her own boots before
recovering. Already Ayden had taken steps away from her, as if he
might sniff this male out on his own.

“We will take you to him.” It was the first
time the other female had spoken. She had a deeper, sultrier tone
to her voice.

Ayden snapped his head toward the owls.
Already he’d stalked away from the counter.

“Elaine, Elisa,” he said, his voice so soft
the dangerous undertones almost clung to the two names. “Direct me
to this male. I’ll speak to him alone, however. You have my word no
harm will come to anything that is yours.”

The females glanced at each other.

“Very well,” the one with the deeper tone
said.

Magda wasn’t sure which female was which.
Apparently they knew Ayden well, though. His word was enough for
them in spite of how pissed off he smelled.

Magda rushed up to him when the females came
around the counter. “I’m going in with you.”

“Not until we know what he wants.” Already
Ayden was heading toward a hall.

The two owls—both had to be at least six
foot—easily took the lead. Magda hurried to keep up, and remain at
Ayden’s side.

“Suddenly you wish to shove me out of the way
because there is danger involved.”

Ayden didn’t slow his pace but gave Magda a
sharp look. “You’re right. Neither of us will cower from the smell
of danger. We run together.”

He looked away before Magda had time to say
anything. The owls had stopped in front of two large doors and
without ceremony opened one of them, then stepped to the side
without saying anything else.

Magda followed Ayden into the room.

A tall male faced a large display of windows
that offered a magnificent view of the mountains behind the bed and
breakfast. He turned and fixed his blue eyes on Magda.

“Magda! Fucking tail,” he gasped, relief
instantly smelling up the large room. “I seriously began believing
you were dead.”

Ayden leapt across the room, grabbing the
male before he had a chance to say anything else, or react to the
assault. Gripping the male’s arms, he heaved him into the air, then
tossed him toward the middle of the large room. Magda gave the male
credit. He was on his feet before his entire body hit the
floor.

“When did you get mated?” he demanded, but
now his attention was completely on Ayden.

“What do you want with her?” Ayden snarled.
If his muscles grew any larger they would rip the shirt he wore off
his body.

“I found you and Leisa.” The male dared focus
on Magda instead of Ayden. His blond hair fell in curls around his
face. There was a scar on his nose. He returned his attention to
Ayden and snarled, causing the puckered skin to look like a bolt of
lightning. “I don’t want anything with her,” he hissed. “Not like
that. Her litter demanded I sniff her out. They thought she was
dead.”

“Why didn’t they search for her themselves?”
Ayden reeked of disbelief, which mixed with his spicy anger, was
not a nice smell.

“Fucking tail!” The male complained. He threw
his hands in the air. It wasn’t a sign of giving in. He tried
stepping around Ayden toward Magda.

Magda knew males. Maybe these two were
Cariboo and her sire had been a Malta werewolf. Males were males
though. This male just dismissed Ayden as too much of an annoyance
to waste his time on.

Ayden didn’t appreciate the gesture. He
bull-dozed into the male, shoving him back until they almost
flattened a table with chairs in front of a shelf full of books.
The male was ready for Ayden this time. He returned the aggression
and the two of them looked as if they did a dance across the middle
of the large room when he managed to shove Ayden back the few feet
he’d progressed.

His words hit Magda just before first blood.
“Wait!” she yelled, leaping at both males. She started swinging at
first contact in an effort to get their attention. “Damn it, Ayden!
I want to hear about my litter!”

The male raised his arm, blocking Magda’s
onslaught and knocked her backward.

“Ever lay a paw on my mate,” Ayden snarled,
his words garbled as his teeth grew to where they barely fit his
human mouth.

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.” The male
grinned, which in truth was one lip curled up. His incisors were
also too long and there was a strong growl in his voice when he
mocked Ayden.

Ayden went into a rage. He swung, making
contact, and blood spewed from the male’s mouth. Not fazed, the
male got a good blow in as well. Ayden doubled over and took a step
backward.

Magda took her only chance. Jumping between
both of them, with her back to Ayden, she pointed a finger at the
male’s raised fist.

“Back down,” she ordered, using that
cold-as-ice tone that her mother used to use to get her and her
littermates to stop fighting.

The male wiped blood from his face with the
back of his hand and straightened. “I never back down from a good
fight, especially when I’m attacked. And with all this hunting I’ve
been doing for you, figured I should be allowed a bit of fun.”

He looked over her head at Ayden, who was
still behind her. “I’m Jaeger Alger. My litter is up in the
mountains.” He inclined his head at Magda and his hair brushed into
his face and stuck to the blood still there. “Her littermate is
mated with my littermate. So we are related. Katrin wants you up on
the mountain with her,” he told Magda.

“Katrin is in the mountains? You took Liesa
there, too?” Neither male would understand the incredible weight
that just lifted from her shoulders. Both of her littermates were
safe. “Wait a minute. What mountain? They are safe where they
are?”

“Very safe.”

Suddenly she recognized him. This male—Jaeger
Alger—had sniffed her and Liesa out just as they’d been discovered
by a few strays. A few females found them in a public bathroom and
started howling Malta werewolf. Magda and Liesa had just started to
run when Jaeger found them. He’d howled a quick story about Katrin
sending him. He had smelled of the truth, but other werewolves were
closing in. Magda had sent Liesa running with the male while she’d
run in the other direction. She’d managed to get the strays to
chase after her, allowing Liesa and Jaeger to escape. At least now
Magda knew this male had protected her littermate, and taken her to
Katrin. She hadn’t recognized him at first because he’d been clean
shaven before and now looked as if he hadn’t shaven in a few weeks.
A rough beard grew along his jaw line.

“My litter was whelped on that mountain.
Jarvis and Katrin just built their den. I ran up the mountain with
Liesa but when I arrived, Katrin barely allowed me a night’s sleep
before insisting that I hunt for you.” Jaeger’s scent changed
slightly before adding. “And as mean of a temper as your other
littermate has, I had no choice but to begin hunting for you
immediately.”

Magda laughed and took a step backward as she
covered her mouth, the news too overwhelming for a moment. She
backed into Ayden’s arms.

Jaeger shook his head, studying the two of
them. “How new is this mating?”

Instead of answering, Ayden let go of Magda
and walked to the door. He opened it far enough to stick his head
out, spoke softly, then closed it again.

“We should have drinks and something to eat
in a few minutes. The owls will bring you something to clean your
face.”

It shouldn’t have surprised Magda that the
owls would have remained on the other side of the door, probably
eavesdropping through the entire fight and exchange of words.

Jaeger waved off the offer, or at least part
of it. “My face is fine. I’ve been bloodier,” he said, laughing
easily. He smelled as if he needed a shower but his sincere
happiness filled the room as well. “I’ll send word to our litters
that I’ll be running to our dens with you, and your new mate.”

Magda’s littermate being mated to Jaeger’s
littermate allowed him rank, and made him a male that Ayden should
honor. For the first time, in a way, he was meeting part of her
litter. Ayden returned to the door when it opened a couple minutes
later and took the tray, blocking the doorway so whoever had
brought it wasn’t able to enter. Then playing host, he offered the
only chairs and table in the room. He would now show his respect to
Jaeger as a relation to his mate. All of this was coming at her too
fast.

Jaeger took his chair, sprawling out and
stretching his long legs in front of him. There were clean cloths
and a bowl of ice that he ignored. Instead he took one of the
already opened bottles of beer and tilted it back, taking a long
draw from it before placing it down.

Magda was more interested in questioning him
then she was in her beer. “Who is Katrin’s mate? Where did they
meet? You must tell me everything.”

Jaeger kept his beer to his lips when he
spoke. “Let her howl her story to you herself. When will you be
ready to return to the mountain?”

Magda stared out the windows in the room
where they’d met with Jaeger Alger. Her dark hair peaked out from
underneath her cap in thick swoops. If she truly wanted to hide her
hair color Ayden would have to buy her another hat.

With her back to him, he appreciated how her
dark denims hugged her perfectly shaped ass. Her legs weren’t that
muscular, something he never thought he would find attractive in a
female. But Magda was not only sexy as hell, her inner soul was
just as beautiful. He doubted her appearance was anywhere on her
mind, though.

Ayden smelled her pain. It was so thick it
almost hung in waves in the room. Yet she stood tall, proud of who
she was and incredibly protective of her litter. Learning how she’d
insisted her younger littermate, who apparently looked enough like
a Cariboo
lunewulf
to pass as one, stay with a pack in
Prince George, showed a bit of Magda’s character. But then after
running with her other littermate until Jaeger Alger hunted them
down, Magda had told her littermate to run with him. She’d said she
would catch up with them but if they ran in opposite directions
they had a greater chance of not being sniffed out.

Magda’s plan had worked. Her two littermates
were now safe. And she’d spent the last three months on the run,
fighting for her life. She was starved and desperate when he’d
found her, yet still willing to go at it with tooth and claw.

Finishing off his second beer that he’d
opened after Jaeger had left them, howling that he’d give them time
to make plans and sniff them out later that day, Ayden pushed off
the couch. He walked over to join her at the windows. She’d been
staring out them a long time.

“Will I ever meet your litter?” she
asked.

Ayden had started toward her and stopped. It
wasn’t what he expected her first words, after being silent for so
long, would be.

“My sire and mother are dead. It’s just my
littermate and me.”

“I know.” She crossed her arms over her chest
and continued looking at the mountainous view.

He doubted she saw it. “If you’d like to meet
Anthony, I can howl for him to come here.” Ayden wanted his
littermate to know that he was mated, and leaving the pack to run
with his new mate. He’d considered sending word with the owls after
he and Magda were some distance away. Anthony would reek of worry
and fear if Ayden were to simply disappear. Already his littermate
had his suspicions. Although Ayden knew that Anthony didn’t smell
the truth as well as he thought he did.

“I would like to meet him.”

Magda turned around, her movements so sultry
and graceful. A thin strand of dark hair had slipped free of her
cap and fell in a gentle wave alongside her face to her neck. She
looked up at him with dark eyes. The glow in them had dimmed. Her
long, thin nose and high cheek bones with her scar-free smooth
skin, and perfectly pouty lips created a vision of beauty that
stole his breath.

“I can have him here tonight.” There was no
doubt in his mind that Anthony would drop everything and run to
Ayden simply to have his insane curiosity appeased. “I’ll arrange
to have us stay here at the Hampton’s for a bit longer.”

She gave him a stiff nod. “Meeting him will
honor me—as your new mate,” she added, hesitating a moment before
adding that last part.

He cleared the distance between them and
pulled her into his arms. “As will meeting your litter,” he
whispered.

“I wish I could honor you that way.” Her
voice cracked and sadness clogged the air between them when she
tilted her head back to stare into his eyes. “Leisa and Katrin
would both love you.”

“You don’t want to run to the mountain where
they are?” Ayden frowned. Pressing his hands on both of her hips he
gripped her, willing her to keep focusing on him. “I didn’t smell
any lies when Jaeger described the location where your littermate
and her mate have built their new den. I’m sure I can sniff out the
location. I know all of this mountain range fairly well.”